This is beyond belief in a society where most people cannot afford to buy a first home. Many people from a poorer background cannot afford to buy their first homes and are having to move back in with their parents or live in shared accomodation due to the debt they have to pay back. We have a failing NHS that is in dire need of more money, whilst the likes of these two and many more from all political parties are swanning around with two houses and then still claiming more of our money.

MP's expenses should not only be a lot more transparent but they should be limited:

-rent for a second home in London, restricted to a certain amount so they can't all have huge houses in the best areas

-train journeys should be restricted to travelling normal class with the rest of us

-if they want a car they should pay for it themselves but can claim petrol to and from their constituency to Parliament; any other journey should have to be proven to be part of their work

-they already have subsidised meals in parliament (I have eaten there and know how cheap it is) so they cannot claim other meals

FFS they get paid a good wage, they should have to live off it like the rest of us mere mortals do!

And they are doing nothing wrong, all of what they are doing is perfectly legal, just because you don't agree with it and it not "right" does not mean this is an example of tory sleaze.

Yes tax payers money could be better spent but that is not the fault of the claimants who are only playing by the rules, save your ire for the government who are the people that should be sorting this out, or are the people that matter in that government doing the same or similar.

Another point I forgot to add was that these are the same ministers (the commons as a whole) that tried to abolish their own accountability under the Freedom of Information Act only a few months ago. Imagine how bad it could be without access to this type of information.

And they are doing nothing wrong, all of what they are doing is perfectly legal, just because you don't agree with it and it not "right" does not mean this is an example of tory sleaze.

Yes tax payers money could be better spent but that is not the fault of the claimants who are only playing by the rules, save your ire for the government who are the people that should be sorting this out, or are the people that matter in that government doing the same or similar.

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Zippy have you been drinking too much........
Just because a shite system provides a gray-train does not mean you have to jump on and proffit all you can. MPs of all parties just take the pisss

Interesting that story.....They put their House into the hands of a Trust, in order to avoid paying a claimed £280,000 inheritance tax on a £700,000 House. I don't see any problem with, any chance I find to avoid paying tax to that useless c**t Brown I'd have already taken it. And I very much doubt anybody else here would do otherwise.

In order to keep living in said House and keep the Trust legal, I presume they'd have to pay rent. In which case they're entitled to claim rent from the House of Common's Fees Office. Since they asked the Fee's Office to say if this was legit, and the Fee's Office ok'ed the deal, it's legit. Who'e fault is it then? The slimebags for trying to dodge paying tax that Neui labour only doubled from £300,00 to £600,000 cos Call Me Dave said a Neui Tory Government would? The Commons Fee's Office for being so slack with our cash? The Commons as a whole for being so greedy?

Why is everyone so amazed / surprised / outraged at this story about the Wintertons?
All politicos are as bad as each other. The only time that you will ever see them is when its time to make sure that they are not dislodged from the Gravy Train.
All we exist for is to ensure that their rather pleasant life style continues

You may not like the way this MP has used the system to his advantage, but what he has done is LEGAL. Can you blame the man for wanting to avoid inheritance tax? Personally, I wish I could do the same! If as has already been said by Kitmarlowe, this was okayed following consultation with the Fees Office. I don't see how this non-story can be classified as "Tory Sleaze".

Possibly "Tory intelligent and legal use of the rules in place to his own advantage"...

If a single mother on the dole was legally claiming money in a similar way, would you be criticizing her for "sleaze"? Or would you be criticizing the system for allowing it?

Is this just another effort to smokescreen the truly sleazy goings on in the Labour Govt, by harking back to the pre 96 anti tory media frenzy?

And they are doing nothing wrong, all of what they are doing is perfectly legal, just because you don't agree with it and it not "right" does not mean this is an example of tory sleaze.

Yes tax payers money could be better spent but that is not the fault of the claimants who are only playing by the rules, save your ire for the government who are the people that should be sorting this out, or are the people that matter in that government doing the same or similar.

Click to expand...

Zippy have you been drinking too much........
Just because a shite system provides a gray-train does not mean you have to jump on and proffit all you can. MPs of all parties just take the pisss

Click to expand...

All I am saying here is that it's not illegal, so they have done nothing wrong, I haven't said that I agree with the fact that they have done it but if the rules of the game allow people to 'cheat' like this then the rules most definately need changing.

I just get a bit cheesed with some of the opinions on this forum that Tory = bad, and that anyone else can do no wrong, it is about time some people woke up to the fact that the Conservatives have not been in power since 1997 and as such the blame for the mess this country is in in general cannot be laid at their door.

Rules like the one that allow the Wintertons to cash in on a flat that they own outright should be changed but I rather suspect the won't be because most of todays politicians have their collective snouts in the same trough.

The matter of employing ones relatives as constituency secretaries etc is not in itself bad, paying your son £45k for stuffing envelopes most certainly is, I read a quote in the Telegraph at the weekend from an MP (not sure which one) and he said "where am I going to get a Cambridge graduate, with an encyclopeadic knowledge of my constituency, that is prepared to work unsociable hours for the wage I pay my wife". I believe that wage was somewhere in the region of £25K, Personally I dont find that unreasonable.

The term sleaze should be reserved for those profitting from their position as an MP such as cash for questions in the past i.e getting paid by outside agencies to use your time as an MP for their benefit.